Free speech isn’t free, it costs a lot

by SB on June 16, 2017 at 10:00am

Free speech isn’t free as it costs a lot to defend both financially and emotionally and it is regularly under attack, especially if you are a part of the New Media.

New Media are easier targets than old media as they generally do not have the financial resources to defend themselves from legal attack, unlike the well-resourced mainstream papers who have legal teams on standby. If someone has plenty of money they can tie New Media personalities and their companies up in the court system for years. Fighting these battles steals precious time, money and opportunities from New Media.

Here is a selection of New Media personalities who have faced or are facing legal battles:

Mark Steyn

In a couple of months, Michael E Mann’s defamation suit against me will enter its sixth year in the constipated bowels of DC justice. Given the proceduralist swamp in which the case is now mired, it is not unreasonable to assume that its ultimate disposition will consume most of my remaining time on earth: as I’ve remarked before, in medieval England trial by jury replaced trial by ordeal; in 21st-century America it’s the other way round.

Muslim prisoners in Michigan filed a lawsuit against Pamela Geller for “wearing a Poke a Dot Bikini In Front of our eyes. We are offended.” They demanded their freedom claiming their civil rights were violated…

…My lawyer, David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center, recently apprised me of this lawsuit that had been filed against me by Muslim prisoners in Michigan. It’s paranoid, outrageous, silly and laughable — and yet it’s a legitimate lawsuit.

The only reason it was dismissed was because the “plaintiffs” didn’t submit the filing fee or the correct form. As funny as it is, it does speak to the supremacist tendencies of their thinking, and the kneejerk tendency among Muslims in the U.S. and other Western countries to claim victim status, even as they’re victimizing non-Muslims.

Chobani, the yogurt company, has filed a lawsuit against Alex Jones, the high-profile conspiracy theorist and the host of a popular right-wing radio show, for posting what it called false news reports about the company and its owner.

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If you agree with me that’s nice, but what I really want to achieve is to make you question the status quo, look between the lines and do your own research. Do not be a passive observer in this game we call life.